Thousands of ex-Comet staff wait for judge's verdict over £25m payoff

A judge who gave a scathing analysis of the collapse of electricals chain Comet will next month decide whether to authorise redundancy payments for thousands of staff who lost their jobs.

Judge Humphrey Forrest has already ordered that more than 2,000 former workers should receive additional redundancy payments worth an estimated £10million.

Now he is deciding whether another 4,000 former members of staff, who did not stake a claim within a time limit, should also be eligible for redundancy money.

Collapsed: Electricals chain Comet

Former staff, unions and Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna have been infuriated because Comet’s former owners – including investment firms OpCapita, Elliott Advisers and Greybull Capital – earned £117 million in less than a year of ownership while staff were left virtually empty handed.

Payments ordered by an employment tribunal, which could total as much as £25 million if Judge Forrest sides with all of the former staff in a hearing expected on July 17, will be paid by the taxpayer.